Wife and I really wanted to like Scoundrels and The Gates better, though we didn't have high hopes. She was more into The Vampire Diaries than I was initially, but I've stuck with it and it gets even better beyond what you've seen, as I've told you; good thing, since I have a harder time dropping series than Wife, even stuff Wife got me to watch in the first place.

VW: synic — A person who does bad things because it doesn't really matter anyway.

YEAH! We got you into the Vampire Diaries! I think you'll continue to enjoy it. It definitely has some Buffy parallels (as Naomi and I inch our way through S4) But I really enjoyed it for what it was :)

For those of you — Win, Lose, or Crawford — who enjoy the aphorisms of the Chinese porn-spammers whose comments I usually delete, I've translated the last couple before getting rid of them. "Man Group Man Group" and "[Untranslatable] Rain" both said "Water is always the same, yet new every moment." And then came a string of dots linking to stuff that makes The Bachelorette look like Little House on the Prairie.

You have basic cable and still watch The Bachelorette? I'm not recommending the Two-and-a-Half Men reruns either, Joanly Nights, but what I wouldn't give to be in your position. Thanks to Comcast, I've fired up the Netflix subscription again; you can always catch up with great shows that way (or by borrowing discs from the library or from friends). I realize that DVDs don't offer the same immediate vegetative indulgence that plopping down and channel-surfing does, but with even basic cable you must be able to find something worthwhile, and if not then please use the VCR or DVR. We don't want to hear you complaining about missing an episode of Wipeout.

Just to prove that I have nothing against "reality competition" programs as a concept and that there's good stuff on Monday nights, let me heartily recommend Last Comic Standing. You're welcome. Unless you Canadians either don't get it or don't get it.

I heard those promos after I wrote what I wrote, JW. And I can't fathom how they'd compare it to True Blood, given that I'm working my way through Season Two of that not only far superior but far different show right now; at least there are actual parallels with Twilight, from what I know of that series, although even those might not stack up in The Gates' favor.

The TV in my mom's den got left on after the news last night, and we ended up (re)watching the pilot. My sister hadn't seen it and our visiting cousins were intrigued, too, so maybe I'm being too hard on it. While filling in some of what she missed and explaining parts of the next episode to my sister — I can't believe my WiFi is letting me ramble like this — I mentioned that the girl with the werewolf boyfriend who kinda likes the new boy in town turns out to be the daughter of a succubus. Mom had apparently never heard the term, and said, "A suck you bitch?"

Now that I'm a couple of episodes further along into The Vampire Diaires, I'd definitely say it has a True Blood vibe mixed in with Buffy, Twilight, Smallville, and Dark Shadows, but not everything can be as strikingly original as Blood or as groundbreaking as Buffy and Diaries is an enjoyable ride. So I appreciate the nudging from Arben, Rebecca, and other folks who urged me to give it a shot.

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Blam's Blog in omnibus form is copyright 2019 and unless otherwise noted all original material is copyright its year of creation Brian Saner Lamken. Outside images are reproduced for context, parody, or review with no infringement intended or implied. Most issue and episode links in captions go to the Grand Comics Database and Internet Movie Database websites, respectively, neither of which is affiliated with the blog.